Jack's letter to his mom - May 15, 1950

Here's a letter dated May 15, 1950 from 13 year old Jack to his mom. At the time, "Dickie" was 10, and "Tommy" 19.  Paul Jr., 21, might have moved out by then, I suspect. (It's only a month and a half before Paul was to be married!)

So, Frances is away on a trip, Paul Sr. is home, and the house is a mess. It's a pretty funny letter, and gives a great sense of 13 year old Jack's personality and sense of humor. You'll get a kick out of it!  Paul Jr.'s comments on the letter are included at the end of this post.

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TRANSCRIPT (with a little cleaning up of spelling and punctuation):

Monday May 15, 50

Dear Mom

Thank you for the postcards.  I think Dickie is too lazy to write so he, along side of me sends his greeting to you.  The house is a mess, and Tommy hasn’t made his bed since you left.  Daddy is fine and we hope you are having a good time.  The weather stinks.  Overcast and balmy but we will live I’m sure. 

How are all the folks back there?  I don’t’ know who they are but how are they anyway?  

I made my letter and am going to buy a letterman sweater and also was elected to Colonial Council.  I’m over at the Bermant’s house now and boy is the food great.  Mrs. B. has fed and treated us all like kings, so we are going to buy her a box of candy. 

Margie left for New York all flutter flutter like most girls.  The way she was acting I thought she was going to take off and fly back (birdy like).  My Spanish grade is going so low it sounds like Chinese (get it?).

The way I interpret your letter it sounds as you’re going to take a dog sled through Wyoming and hitchhike the rest of the way home.  I hope you’re having fun because we are.  Why don’t you have the Judy's take you to some ball games so you can bring me a program back.  I was just kidding about my grades.  They’re fine.

Until I write or you write again, I’ll be seeing you.

Love, Jack

P.S.  Seriously, we can’t get by without you



3/19/12 UPDATE FROM PAUL JR:

I was not aware that Mom took a trip without Dad but at the time in 1950 I was living at USC in the fraternity house and was totally focused on campus life to the exclusion of all else.

Mother had cousins or some kind of family connection in Saint Louis. The family name was Judy, and I kind of remember a woman who visited us a couple of times called Betty Judy. We were always amused by that last name.

I suspect Mother was in Saint Louis which is why Jack probably asked for a program book. He was at the time a baseball nut and Saint Louis was home to the famous Cardinals.

Jack’s letter is hilarious to me. He’s over on Beachwood St., the next street over from Plymouth, with the Bermants.  Josephine Bermant was mother’s closest friend all through the 30’s and 40’s. She passed away shortly after this period and mother was devastated for days and days.

There were two Bermant kids, Gordon who was Jack’s age and his much older brother George who was a year or so older than me. I paled around with George a lot and we used to go to concerts and ballets together. George was an extremely bright guy and became a very successful lawyer in LA.